# Pope Francis – A Man of His Word
*Pope Francis: A Man of His Word* is a 2018 documentary film directed by [Wim Wenders](https://www.edgepedia.org/wim-wenders) in which [Pope Francis](https://www.edgepedia.org/pope-francis) presents his ideas and answers to global questions directly to the audience, covering poverty, wealth inequality, ecology, immigration, social justice, and peace.[1](https://www.focusfeatures.com/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word) The film was intended as a personal journey with Pope Francis rather than a biographical documentary about him.[2](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/pope-francis---a-man-of-his-word/) It was a rare co-production with the Vatican, distributed by [Focus Features](https://www.edgepedia.org/focus-features), and premiered in the Official Selection at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.[1](https://www.focusfeatures.com/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word) • [3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2018/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-the-holy-father-gives-wim-wenders-carte-blanche/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writers | Wim Wenders, co-written with David Rosier[1](https://www.focusfeatures.com/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word) |
| Release | US theaters May 18, 2018 (limited); streaming December 4, 2018; world premiere at Cannes 2018[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pope_francis_a_man_of_his_word) • [3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2018/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-the-holy-father-gives-wim-wenders-carte-blanche/) |
| Format | Documentary, 96 minutes, rated PG, original language Italian[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pope_francis_a_man_of_his_word) • [5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word) |
| Production | Co-production with the Vatican; production companies including CTV – Centro Televisivo Vaticano, Neue Road Movies, and Fondazione Solares Suisse[1](https://www.focusfeatures.com/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word) • [3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2018/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-the-holy-father-gives-wim-wenders-carte-blanche/) |
| Interviews | Four long interviews with the pope spanning two years, filmed with the Interrotron so he speaks directly to the camera[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2018/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-the-holy-father-gives-wim-wenders-carte-blanche/) • [6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-2018) |
| Reception | 82% Tomatometer from 74 reviews; Metascore 63 (generally favorable); IMDb 6.7[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pope_francis_a_man_of_his_word) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/pope-francis---a-man-of-his-word/) |
| US box office | $2.0 million[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pope_francis_a_man_of_his_word) |
## Spoilers
### Content and structure
The film's stated purpose is to present the pope's work of reform and his answers to questions on death, social justice, immigration, ecology, wealth inequality, materialism, and the role of the family.[1](https://www.focusfeatures.com/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word) Most of the film consists of long, thoughtful shots of Francis sitting and unfolding his philosophy, intercut with footage of him putting his words into action at sites of natural disasters, prisons, and refugee camps.[9](https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/the-400-word-review-pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word/) • [10](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word/)
Wenders frames the film with comparisons to Francis's namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi, including silent film-style reenactments of the 13th-century saint, and the documentary culminates in a papal visit to Assisi.[9](https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/the-400-word-review-pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word/) The film closes with the pope's two ingredients for a happy life, one of which is a smile.[11](https://educationforjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Film-Discussion-Guide_Pope-Francis-A-Man-of-His-Word.pdf)
The documentary also addresses difficult subjects: official clips cover the sex abuse scandal, homosexuality and women, forgiveness, climate change and poverty, and the refugee crisis.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pope_francis_a_man_of_his_word) Archival footage includes world leaders such as [Barack Obama](https://www.edgepedia.org/barack-obama), Donald Trump, Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin, and [Joe Biden](https://www.edgepedia.org/joe-biden), the last appearing as himself in the credits.[5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word)
## Production
The Vatican approached Wim Wenders, the German filmmaker known for *Paris, Texas* (1984), *Wings of Desire* (1987), and the documentaries *Buena Vista Social Club* (1999), *Pina* (2011), and *[The Salt of the Earth](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-salt-of-the-earth-2014-film)* (2014), in 2013.[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2018/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-the-holy-father-gives-wim-wenders-carte-blanche/) Wenders said he was given complete freedom on the project, including full control over the final cut, along with unrestricted access to the Vatican's photo archive and permission to film four long interviews with the pope over two years.[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2018/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-the-holy-father-gives-wim-wenders-carte-blanche/) A reviewer for RogerEbert.com noted that Wenders receiving final cut made the film feel like the work of an artist rather than the goals of an institution.[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-2018)
**The Interrotron interviews.** Wenders filmed his conversations with the pope using the Interrotron, a device invented by documentary director [Errol Morris](https://www.edgepedia.org/errol-morris) that projects the interviewer's face so the subject looks directly into the camera lens. The effect places the viewer in the interviewer's seat, so Francis appears to be speaking to each audience member personally rather than to a journalist.[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-2018) In a 60 Minutes report, correspondent Jon Wertheim observed that the setup made the pope more forthcoming and that he spoke candidly, expressing doubts rather than presenting himself as an exalted figure.[8](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/eye-to-eye-with-pope-francis-in-new-documentary/)
## Reception
Critical response was generally favorable but divided over the film's closeness to its subject. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 82% Tomatometer from 74 reviews and a 74% audience score, while its Metacritic Metascore of 63 from 24 critics falls in the "generally favorable" range, with 15 positive, 9 mixed, and no negative reviews.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pope_francis_a_man_of_his_word) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/pope-francis---a-man-of-his-word/critic-reviews/) The site's critics consensus called it a compelling look at the pontiff's ideas and message while observing that its distance from the man meant it would not win many new converts.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pope_francis_a_man_of_his_word)
**Praise.** The San Francisco Chronicle's critic gave the film 100 and noted that Wenders, clearly an admirer of both the saint and the pope, conducted extensive and exclusive interviews with the pontiff.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/pope-francis---a-man-of-his-word/critic-reviews/) [Entertainment Weekly](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment-weekly) scored it 91, describing Francis washing the feet of prisoners, visiting sick children, and praying with hurricane victims as living the empathy he preaches.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/pope-francis---a-man-of-his-word/critic-reviews/) The Washington Post called it an inspiring, thoroughly engrossing portrait.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-is-an-inspiring-thoroughly-engrossing-portrait/2018/05/16/57c41de8-53f5-11e8-9c91-7dab596e8252_story.html)
**Criticism.** The Slant Magazine review argued that despite unprecedented access the film rarely pushes past pleasant platitudes, playing like a public-relations video, and called the St. Francis reenactment sequences hamfisted.[10](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word/) The Financial Times gave it 2 of 5 stars, finding it sycophantic toward and unchallenging of the papal institution.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pope_francis_a_man_of_his_word) Common Sense Media's review similarly found the film lacking context: there is almost no pre-papacy footage of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, no interviews with people who knew him before, and no commentary from him on his life before the clergy, which keeps viewers at arm's length from the man.[13](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word)
## Place among Francis films
The film is one of several documentaries centered on Pope Francis. Evgeny Afineevsky's *Francesco* (2020) took a broader approach with interviews of the pope's nephew, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and abuse survivor Juan Carlos Cruz, and it drew headlines when the Vatican said the pope's comments there on civil unions were taken out of context.[14](https://www.francescofilm.com/about) • [15](https://www.axios.com/2020/11/02/vatican-clarifies-pope-comments-civil-union-laws) The Spanish-language *Amén. Francisco responde* (2023), directed by Jordi Évole and Màrius Sánchez, filmed the pope answering frank questions from young people in Rome.[16](https://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/2023-04/ing-014/in-open-dialogue-a-documentary-on-the-pope.html) Wenders's film remains distinctive for its direct-address format, in which the pope's gaze at the camera is the central device, and it is cited in Francis's 2020 encyclical *Fratelli Tutti* as a source.[17](https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.pdf)
## References
1. [Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, Focus Features](https://www.focusfeatures.com/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word)
2. [Pope Francis - A Man of His Word, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/pope-francis---a-man-of-his-word/)
3. [Pope Francis – A man of his Word: the Holy Father gives Wim Wenders carte blanche, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2018/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-the-holy-father-gives-wim-wenders-carte-blanche/)
4. [Pope Francis -- A Man of His Word, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pope_francis_a_man_of_his_word)
5. [Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word)
6. [Pope Francis: A Man of His Word movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-2018)
7. [Pope Francis - A Man of His Word critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/pope-francis---a-man-of-his-word/critic-reviews/)
8. [Eye-to-eye with Pope Francis in new documentary, CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/eye-to-eye-with-pope-francis-in-new-documentary/)
9. [The 400-Word Review: Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, Pittsburgh Magazine](https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/the-400-word-review-pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word/)
10. [Review: Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, Slant Magazine](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word/)
11. [Film Discussion Guide: Pope Francis – A Man of His Word, Education for Justice](https://educationforjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Film-Discussion-Guide_Pope-Francis-A-Man-of-His-Word.pdf)
12. ['Pope Francis: A Man of His Word' review, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word-is-an-inspiring-thoroughly-engrossing-portrait/2018/05/16/57c41de8-53f5-11e8-9c91-7dab596e8252_story.html)
13. [Pope Francis: A Man of His Word review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word)
14. [About FRANCESCO, francescofilm.com](https://www.francescofilm.com/about)
15. [Vatican says pope's comments on civil union laws were taken out of context, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2020/11/02/vatican-clarifies-pope-comments-civil-union-laws)
16. [In open dialogue a documentary on the Pope, L'Osservatore Romano](https://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/2023-04/ing-014/in-open-dialogue-a-documentary-on-the-pope.html)
17. [Fratelli Tutti, encyclical of Pope Francis, Vatican.va](https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Documentary films by subject: people, identity, and communities*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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